I'll put you to bed
by Pebr
Summary: T just in case. It's a different night - Raphael makes a bath for Leonardo and Leo hates his blanket.


A/N: First attempt at writing "horror" so it is what it is. If you think that this doesn't fit that genre at all, please let me know! I have this feeling that my stories are just going to get weirder and weirder.. but I hope you can enjoy it. Thanks for reading!

Leo sits in the bathtub while Raph pours water in. It's warm and it smells nice, maybe Raph did something to the water to make Leo feel relaxed. If he did, it worked. After all, it took some time before Leo agreed to let his brother make a bath for him, and even then Raph kind of had to drag him there. It was really out of character so Leo was suspicious; Raph rarely showed this kind of kindness just because he was feeling like it, so maybe he had done something bad and wanted to treat Leo a bit before telling him the bad news. That's something Mikey would do, hoping that his brothers wouldn't be so mad at him after doing something good, but hey, you never know. Besides, even Raph has done all kind of crazy stuff to make Don speak to him after he had destroyed something the genius had spent long time fixing.

Leo could push his brother into spitting out what he had done – and if Raph was making a _bath _it hadto be _bad_ – but his day had been a long one, so a nice and warm bath did sound really good and he didn't want to fill his head with bad stuff right now. Besides Raphael had been acting kind of weird lately, Leo deserved something good from the grumpy troublemaker. Maybe he was just trying to convince himself that he was allowed to relax for a while and enjoy something small like this.

They used to bathe at the same time, all four of them, when they were just little kids. It makes Leo smile, he remembers how back then the tub had seemed so big. If they wanted, they could probably still all fit into it, but Mikey was probably the only one who would've wanted to do that, so.. Still, it wasn't awkward for them to make a bath for each other or use the same water; they didn't have an endless source of warm water, after all.

The warm water he was in now burns his skin nicely, burning away the stress of the day. As a cold-blooded being he always preferred warmth over cold, but the warmth starts to be a little too much. And now that he thinks about it, the water's already too hot. He turns to Raph who's in control of the temperature of the water. "Raph, the water's quite hot; turn it down a bit, okay?" Leo asks him hastily, rising his head from the bubbles he had comfortably watched while thinking if they'd really all fit the tub. Since when had their soap been switched into something so sweet-scented? It makes his head hurt and the steam in the air made it a bit harder to breathe. The water was still _so _hot; he needed to get out, out of the water and tell Raphael to never use this soap again and – is he panicking?

Raph had turns to him, staring down at Leo who has gripped the edging of the tub in order to pull himself up. He kneels down, firmly placing his hands on Leo's shoulders and pressing him back into the water.

"No, _Raph_, stop", Leo says and his own voice sounds confused, not knowing if to command or _beg_, too confused to even understand the situation. As he's pressed back in the burning water he struggles, pressing his fingers into Raphael's arms so hard it probably leaves marks for weeks. "The water's too hot! Didn't you hear me?" Leo wants to scream, he's confused, he's burning and everything's too slippery to hold onto and Raphael is too strong and it's hot, it's hot, it's hot..

The burning is making him feel more and more horrible by the second, and after every second he thinks it can't get worse but it does, _oh it does_, but his panicked eyes find Raphael's face and he doesn't know what he wants to watch more; Raphael's face or his skin burning because he doesn't know which is worse. That emotionless face makes Leonardo feel cold even though he's sure that the heat is making his skin is fall off. His eyes are screaming up to Raphael as tears run down his cheeks and disappear into the bubbles. He's gasping and it burns so bad and he can't think and – is Raph telling him to close his eyes?

"Raph", Leo gasps, shakes his head _please no, don't _and his lips burn when hot water enters his mouth. There's the taste of soap in his mouth which he hardly notices and then it's mixed with the burning which he _does_ notice. He doesn't know where to put his tongue to prevent the agony from filling his mouth. He doesn't dare to swallow because he's afraid of the pain traveling down to his lungs, it's enough that it burns him outside, _he'd rather drown, rather choke.._

"You didn't close your eyes.." Raphael's – _no, it can't be Raph, why is it Raph_ – maniac grin is the last thing he sees before his head is pressed underwater and before the water burns his eyes.

#

_He needs to get out of the water, he needs to_–

Leo falls off his bed and lands awkwardly on the floor, but it's the best thing that has ever happened to him. He's trapped inside his blanket which he pulled down with him, and when he realizes it he's almost panicking because he's drowning again, but he manages to get himself free from his horrible opponent. He kicks the warm thing away like it burns him, pressing himself against the cold floor and almost kissing it, but the dust on it stops him from going so far. He closes his eyes, breathes deeply to calm himself – and forgets that he is on the floor and ends up inhaling dust. He coughs and sits up, deciding to clean his floors and wanting to forget last night. What on earth did Mikey put into his food yesterday to make him dream stuff like that? He shivers a bit, closing his eyes but quickly opening them again. Last night is still burning his mind if he keeps his eyes shut for too long - and it's going to be hard for him to forget that cruel dream if he keeps using the word burn.

The blue-masked turtle stands up and scratches the back of his head, but the movement of his hand stops when he glances at his blanket kicked on the floor. He steps towards it, grabbing it carefully. It's soaked. So is his bed. Dread washes over him, how didn't he notice? Quickly Leonardo calms himself, now understanding. Mikey probably pulled a prank on him, which for some reason didn't wake him up and caused him to see that weird dream. He sighs, letting the blanket drop back onto the floor and walks out of his room.

He almost runs into Mikey who has a towel draped around his waist. Leo had probably slept a little bit longer than he usually does, since Mike was already up. Probably that damn dream's fault.

"Oh, morning, Leo! Sleep well?" his little brother greets him, grinning. "There's still some warm water left, you should use it before Raph does."

"Mikey, how many times do I need to tell you to stop the-"

"I didn't do anything! I'm innocent, I swear!" Mikey defends himself when he hears Leo's annoyed tone, and since Mike is a horrible liar Leo sees that he's telling the truth. For a second Mikey looks like a sad puppy with his big eyes, but then he's smiling widely. "What happened? Did Raph get revenge on you for something? Man, I would've wanted to see!"

Leo looks down and so does Mikey, and they both watch the spot on the floor where Leo is standing. Mikey grins even widely now that he notices that Leo is wet and dripping water on the floor. "Water, that's a classic", Mike judges, nodding to himself approvingly. "Not quite his style, but looks like it worked! How come I didn't you hear when you screamed? Surely the water was cold? You did scream, didn't you? Even a little?"

Oh, he did scream, but it was quite different from that. Leo shivers again, but pushes his dream away and smiles at Mikey, although he was kind of confused. Would Raph pull a prank like this? Or has his little brother finally figured out how to lie? Leo really hopes that isn't the case.

"I'll talk to Raph", Leo sighs, and is about to turn his back when Mikey stops him. "Hey, if you need help getting back at him, I'll be your guide twenty-four seven!" he says happily. Leo is about to smile, when he smells the same sweet soap he choked in in his dreams. Leo grabs Mikey's hand, who in return turns to look at Leo, confused.

"Mikey.. what.. what's that scent? What's that soap?" Leo asks, careful to not show his panic. "Oh, you like it?" Mikey teases. "It's just some new stuff, I dunno. It just was there, somebody else bought it." Leo nods and lets him go, biting his lip.

"Dude, you okay?" Mike asks, worried. Leo just shrugs. "Sure, just.. annoyed about the prank", he lies, smiling a bit. Mikey looks at him for a moment, and then returns the smile. "You should close your eyes", he says, and then he's gone, humming something as he walks and disappears into his own room.

Leo stares after him, wondering if he just missed some kind of a joke. It wouldn't be the first time. But he needs to get going. He isn't that interested in a hot shower – nor a bath. Definitely not. But he wants to wash his face with some cold water to get rid of his nightmares and in order to do that he needs to claim the bathroom for himself before Raph does. He finds the bathroom empty, so he steps in and closes the door after himself. He really hopes that Raph won't be in a grumpy mood today – well, more than usually – because he really doesn't need him banging on the door and yelling that it's his turn. Besides Leo needs to talk with him about that prank, he's not going to just let it be.

He opens the tap of the sink and presses his forehead against the mirror. He closes his eyes and just listens the water run for a while, then bends over and washes his face with sweet, cold water. After closing the tap he grabs himself a towel, pressing his face into it and turning to the door. When he lifts his head Raphael is standing there. Leo's a bit startled – _didn't he lock the door?_ Raph is watching him with a emotionless face and Leo ignores the stupid fear leaking from his dreams. He wants an explanation for his bed – it's going to take some work to get everything dry again, and Leo would gladly make Raph clean after himself.

"Raphael, why did you-" Leo never finishes his sentence, because there are bruises on Raph's arms, exactly where Leo grabbed him. The leader stumbles back, feels his legs hit something and he falls on the floor. He doesn't stop his moving, he just scoots further away until he feels his shell hit the bathtub. _No, not the tub, no-_

"_You didn't close your eyes_", Raphael says, stretching every word, slowly walking closer towards Leo. It takes him time to speak again, and when he does, his words are painfully slow and his tone is so sweet it almost hurts_._ It's a whisper, but it's so close it _burns._

"Don't worry; I'll close them for maybe I'll even make sure you're dry before I put you to bed_ – like I did last night._"

Leo feels sick and he slaps himself on the cheek, he's still dreaming, he's just imagining that stupid scent, it's not real-

"Oops – don't slap yourself, that's _my _job", the one smiling says, and he's grabbing Leo again, pulling him on his feet. Leo's sure he's just going to fall back to the floor because he can't feel his legs, and it makes him want to cry how _Raph _doesn't let him fall. Raph never does so this _Raph _should, but no, his voice is so gentle, so horrible, so _warm.._

"_If you don't go unconscious before I can hear you choke I'll even put a blanket over you. And when you wake up you'll burn again, and again, and again.._"


End file.
